This invention relates generally to television or video cameras, and more particularly, the present invention relates to hand held television cameras having an additional electronic view finder.
Television cameras for domestic use are getting popular now as video tape recorders have been popularized. Recent portable television cameras are small in size and light in weight so that they are as handy as customary eight-millimeter movie cameras. Most conventional television cameras are equipped with a view finder of TTL (through the-lens) type because such a view finder is so small and light compared to an electronic view finder having a picture tube that it fits such a handy camera. However, it is to be noted that there is a great difference in usage between television cameras and eight-millimeter cameras. Namely, in contrast to the short filming interval, such as several minutes, of eight-millimeter movie cameras, the maximum shooting interval of television cameras is two to six hours depending on the length and reeling speed of the video tape. When a user performs a long time shooting, by gripping a hand grip of the portable television camera, he will be tired, and thus stable shooting is difficult. Some large size video cameras, therefore, have a shouldering aid or supporter so that the camera can be carried on a user's shoulder. However, these conventional large size television cameras having such a shouldering aid are not handy because they have been originally designed to be used by being carried on a user's shoulder.
One of the inventors of the present invention has already invented a shouldering aid for a portable television camera, and filed patent applications in Japan (55-59513, 55-59514 and 55-59515). This shouldering aid invented by one of the present inventors has a base member arranged to be attachable to the bottom portion of a portable television camera body, and a shoulder pad connected to the base member. The shoulder pad may be foldable, while the hand grip of the television camera, which hand grip is of detachable type, is detached from the camera body to be attached to a front portion of the base member of the shouldering aid. A mechanical linking means is provided for interlocking a manipulation knob or trigger attached to the hand grip and a start switch of the television camera body. When a portable television camera equipped with such a shouldering aid is carried on a user's shoulder, it is difficult to use an original view finder of TTL type, which is built in the camera body, because the eyepiece of such a view finder will be positioned just above the user's shoulder. Namely, the user or shooter has to bend or stretch his neck to look through the eyepiece.
Therefore, it is preferable to use an additional electronic view finder having a picture tube when the television camera is carried on a user's shoulder by means of such a shouldering aid, so that the user does not have to bend his neck to look through an eyepiece of the electronic view finder. Namely, the eyepiece of such an additional electronic view finder is located at one side of the camera body, projecting outside the camera body. The electronic view finder may be either directly mounted on the top portion of the camera body or by means of a mounting or attaching member fixedly connected to the camera body. Although the additionally provided electronic view finder can satisfactorily operate in use, when it is intended to carry the camera in nonuse or to restore the camera in a casing, the electronic view finder would be an obstacle because the eyepiece thereof is projecting from one side of the camera body. Therefore, a television camera equipped with such an additional electronic view finder is undesirably bulky, and thus the mobility of the portable television camera is apt to be deteriorated.